


A Season Untouched

by ValmureEld



Series: Team Succeed or Die Trying [9]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Angst, Banter, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Memories, Peace, Quiet Moment, Reminiscing, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Very light Sypha x Trevor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 18:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12216162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValmureEld/pseuds/ValmureEld
Summary: The team is suspicious when they stumble on a town seemingly untouched by Dracula's wrath, but as they venture forward it seems Alucard's own past is standing watch like a guardian angel.Also known as: Trevor and Sypha learn more about little Alucard and Trevor takes notes for blackmail.





	A Season Untouched

**Author's Note:**

> Got the idea of someone recognizing Alucard not as Alucard the warrior, but as Adrian. This is where it went.

“It's odd, how quiet it is here,” Sypha said softly, brushing her fingers through a cluster of crocuses and snowdrop blossoms. The appearance of some color besides red in the landscape was refreshing and set them all on edge at the same time. 

“I haven't seen any tracks in ten miles,” Trevor said, that same uncertainty, a distrust of the peace, running through his voice. 

“We're on the fringe,” Alucard agreed, hand resting on his sword hilt as he looked out over the town. They were up on a hill, melting snow and bursts of early flowers clustered beneath the dark wood of trees not quite awake yet. Behind them, the landscape was still pockmarked with smoldering towns, reaching ever out like a pool of dark blood. This hill looked into a valley where green was actually starting to show on vines and mosses, and after so much darkness it looked to Trevor like the ichor crusting on the edge of a wound. 

“We should head forward, see if there's some kind of trap,” Trevor said. Once, Sypha would have reprimanded him for such pessimistic thinking, but they'd all seen far too much. 

“I'll go ahead with Sypha, see if we can sense any kind of magical undercurrent,” Alucard said. “Belmont, you check the perimeter. Look for tracks and nests. We will meet there.” He pointed to the highest building in the small town, a one room church with little more than a cracking steeple to differentiate it. 

Trevor nodded, knowing that the church was more than a meeting point. If anywhere in the whole town was going to have thicker walls and holy water it would be the village church. It would be the most defensible position. It was all they really looked for in a resting place anymore. Somewhere they could sit with a wall at their backs. 

Sypha stood, her robes blowing in an oddly warm wind, following Alucard into the valley. 

The further they went, the weirder it felt. The streets Sypha and Alucard cautiously tread were surprisingly clean, and it took Trevor an entire hour to realize the reason he was feeling so good was because he was breathing truly clean air for the first time in months. No ash, no smoke, no blood or rotting flesh. The air was crisp, and when his boots sunk into the earth they churned up worms and roots and a rich, living smell. 

It was making all three of them nervous as rabbits. 

A young woman passed Sypha and nodded amiably at her. A pair of fair haired siblings ran so close to Alucard that they swept his coat in their wake, and he turned, watching them for a long time in his surprise. 

“It's so...gentle here,” Sypha said, speaking for both of them. “How can it be so different on this side of the ridge?”

“I don't know,” Alucard murmured, finally slipping his hand from his sword and letting it hide in his coat. “It is as if my father's wrath just.......stopped here.” 

“Perhaps the town is too small....?” Sypha ventured. There was barely enough buildings to call the place a town. A few shepherds, a single church and a single tavern. 

“To my father, every town is small,” Alucard said grimly, folding his arms and watching as the children darted back across the street. “I fear it is only a matter of time. But the dread is not even here.”

“We have gone far,” Trevor said, walking up from the east towards their huddled spot just beside the church. “We're miles from the castle, miles from the towns he specifically targeted. The demons will only venture so far before they have to return to their lairs.” He looked at his two companions, crossing his arms and sighing. “What do you want to do?”

Alucard's brow was furrowed and was strange to see the normally stoic dhampir actually look troubled.

“One way or another, we need rest,” Sypha reasoned. “We should stay. Maybe this is for a reason—we can warn these people, prepare them before they are down to the last dregs of horror and frayed hope. They have children here. We could be the reason those children get to grow up, to see the world we will leave them when we stop Dracula once and for all.” 

“Alright, if the speaker wants to stay, I don't see a reason to rush off. I can train the men for a few days, give them a chance,” Trevor said, gesturing with one hand. “Besides, it's probably good for us to breathe something besides human remains for a few days. My lungs actually feel clear.”

Speaker and hunter turned to dhampir. “Your vote, Alucard,” Sypha prompted.

Alucard looked about to speak when a gasp behind him caused them all to look up, and Alucard to turn around. An elderly woman had dropped her bundle of packages, and was staring right at them like she was seeing a ghost. 

“Adrian?” she whispered, her voice a tremble. 

Alucard blinked, but Trevor's hand went to his whip. Sypha shot him a disapproving glance, even though she knew Trevor was acting only on cautious instinct. There was no way he'd attack an old woman without proof she was something else entirely.

“You know me?” Alucard asked hesitantly.

She looked about to weep, and beckoned with a brittle hand. “Come into the light, please.”

At first he didn't move, but then, slowly, he left the shadow cast by the church and stepped into the evening sun. 

The woman's expression trembled and then she smiled, tears pooling up in her eyes as she stepped closer and reached out to him, cupping his cheek with her hand. His gold eyelashes caught the light as they fluttered in surprise, and he twitched as he stopped himself from jerking his head away.

“Oh, you've grown so handsome,” she said, and slowly he sank to one knee before her. She cupped his face, a tear running down her cheek as she brushed back his golden hair. “Oh...you look just like her.”

“Naomi,” Alucard breathed, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch as he cradled her hand in his. “I thought you dead,” he admitted.

“No, I and my family are safe, here,” Naomi said, bending to kiss Alucard's forehead with the affection of a grandmother. “It is good to see you, Adrian. You do your mother very proud in how you've grown.” She gave him a sad smile and he stood, squeezing her hands.

“How did you escape?” he asked, his brow furrowed. “How are you all here, outside of the hoards?”

She sighed, glancing behind Alucard at his two very confused companions. “It isn't proper to keep guests standing outside, especially when winter's not quite over and the sun is setting. Come, you will stay with my daughter and I tonight. Her husband is tending the sheep so we have more room than usual. You all deserve a hot meal and a bed.” 

The woman's home was small, but it was cozy and well lit with lanterns and a large fireplace. Herbs and fleece insulated and scented the three rooms, and at a heavy wooden counter by the fire a young woman stood chopping vegetables. She was dark haired and very pregnant, but didn't shy when three tattered strangers walked through her door. On the contrary—she looked up from her work and her expression of surprise turned very quickly to delight. 

“Adrian!?” she exclaimed, running out from behind the counter and practically leaping on the dhampir. He was smiling just as wide, hugging her as tightly as he dared. “Christina,” he said warmly, framing her face with his hands and touching their foreheads. “It is good to see you, my dearest friend.” 

“When we fled I feared I'd never see you again!” she exclaimed, hugging him once more before clasping his hands and stepping back to look at him. “Oh you've grown so beautiful,” she said, smiling warmly. 

“As have you,” he returned, dropping his hands to her belly. “When did this happen?”

She laughed. “You're the doctor, you tell me! But later. Your friends look pitifully hungry and confused. Sit by the fire, I'll bring you all food and then we can catch up.” She kissed Alucard's cheek and then stepped around him to offer a polite bow to Trevor. “May I take your cloak, sir?” 

“I—I can get it, thank you,” Trevor stammered. He just didn't feel right giving a pregnant woman his heavy, extremely dirty cloak. 

“Lady, let me get you something hot to drink,” Christina said, pulling out a chair for Sypha. “My name is Christina, and as long as you are here my home is yours. Adrian and I were children together—we used to play while his mother attended to mine. I have not seen him in many years, and feared I never would again, so I am glad to see him not only alive but not alone,” she said, pouring them each warm cider and serving them patiently. 

“And in good company too, I see,” she added, glancing at Trevor as he hung his cloak and sat down. He touched his crest self-consciously, but Christina did not sound the least bit mocking. She actually looked sad when she pressed a warm cup into his hands. “A Belmont saved my grandfather from a vampire,” she said. “My family owes each of you a great deal. Including you, speaker. I know what your people have done through the years. I know how it must weigh on you to be apart from your people.”

Sypha looked surprised to be addressed. She wasn't often paid the same kind of attention as Alucard or Trevor, who both had much more in the way of reputation. “Thank you,” she said at last. “I hope to go back to them when everything is safe once again.” 

“Then it is my pleasure to host you all until you depart for that goal.”

“Let me help you,” Alucard offered, taking up a serving ladle despite her look of disapproval. 

“I am pregnant, not porcelain,” she protested, snatching the ladle right out of his hand. She pointed at a third chair with it. “Sit.” 

Alucard huffed but he took off his coat and he sat. Trevor's eyebrows shot up. “He doesn't listen to either of us like that.”

“That is because you don't have embarrassing stories of him when he was still small and learning how to speak around his fangs without a lisp,” Christina said with a twinkle. Alucard actually hid his face in his hand and the tips of his ears were red. 

“I didn't even know he could blush,” Sypha said with a kind of puckish fascination over Trevor's laughter. 

“Oh, he most certainly can,” Christina said, resting a hand on Alucard's shoulder and patting it affectionately. “Especially when caught off guard by a pretty girl.”

Alucard actually slumped in his chair a little and groaned. 

“So,” Trevor said impishly, swirling his drink around. “What would it take for you to share some of those embarrassing stories with us?” 

It was late in the evening with the fire threatening embers by the time Christina put another few logs on and they began discussing the present again. 

“How did you end up here?” Alucard asked seriously, his hands on Christina's pregnant belly as he felt the baby shift and give a sleepy kick. They had no proper physician out in their town so Alucard insisted that assessing the baby's health was the least he could do for her hospitality. “You and your mother?” 

“When your father returned and learned what happened to your poor mother, it was my mother who met him and gave him the news. She was in the middle of the remains of Lisa's house, refusing to take part in anything but a memorial. It was out of the last shreds of love for your mother that Dracula let her and us go. We left that night,” she said quietly, resting her hand on her belly as Alucard withdrew. She glanced at him with a question.

“Your baby is perfectly healthy,” he assured. “What happened after you ran?” 

“We did not look back,” she said simply, giving a little shrug and getting carefully up to stoke the fire and tidy their dishes. Naomi had drawn a bath in the next room and Sypha was already there, leaving Alucard and Trevor by the fire to talk with Christina and wait their turns. “We met Joah and his sister on a night when we simply couldn't run any longer and he took us in. Our love sprang quickly after that, and in a short time we were married. We've been here since, safe thus far. I can only pray it will last...”

“I cannot promise that it will, but I may be able to help,” Trevor said, speaking up for the first time in over an hour. He'd been content to simply hear stories about Alucard stealing flasks from his mother to catch butterflies or the difficulties he'd had when first learning how to use his various powers. There was a lot of potential blackmail in that category. Alucard was so graceful as an adult, it was down right hysterical to imagine him teleporting and ending up stuck half in a wall or floating out of bed and startling himself in his sleep. Alucard had vehemently denied it, but Christina claimed that he'd gotten stuck with bat ears and a snub nose for three whole days when his shape shifting started to show. 

“How?” Christina asked, her brow furrowed slightly. “I know you three cannot stay. You are going to try and stop this at its root, are you not?”

Trevor glanced at Alucard, leaning forward and lacing his fingers between his knees. “Yes, we are, but I can teach you how to fight. Your men first, then anyone else who wants to listen. Women and children can learn to help just as effectively, and maybe you can share that knowledge with others who come to trade with you.” 

“That would be wise, we've depended on our good fortune for too long already.”

“Someone else can go now,” Sypha said as she returned to the room, looking much more relaxed and happy now that she was clean. 

“Go on,” Trevor said, waving a hand. “The water will be sludge by the time I'm done with it. You may as well enjoy it first.” 

Alucard nodded his thanks and left the room. 

“I'm going to sleep--” Sypha said, gesturing to the last room. “Naomi has offered us the second bed for the night. There's room enough for me and you, and then Alucard said he will nest in the rafters.” 

“What about Christina and Naomi?” Trevor asked, every good manner ever installed in his head intensely uncomfortable with the idea of putting an elderly woman and pregnant girl out of a bed.

“We will share my bed, my husband isn't coming back tonight,” Christina assured, smiling at him. “But I appreciate your chivalry, Belmont.” 

Trevor nodded, relaxing more then. “Sleep well Sypha, I'll be in when I'm clean.” 

She smiled, kissing his cheek. “I appreciate that.” 

He snorted and smiled, staring into the fire. For a long time there was a companionable silence between he and Christina, the fire making him drowsy. He didn't realize that his collar had been brushed aside when Sypha had touched his shoulder. The well worn scar of Alucard's bite was visible in the contrast of the firelight. 

“You feed him, don't you?” Christina asked softly. Trevor looked at her, his hand twitching towards his throat, his expression going somewhat guarded. “Please, do not take that as judgment,” she amended quickly. “I am...immensely grateful that he has people to take care of him. I...I feared for him when his father lost himself to grief. It is good he has you. You and the speaker. I saw her bite as well.”

“He's done more than that for us, so,” Trevor said, folding his arms and feeling a little uncomfortable. 

“I don't doubt it,” Christina said, staring into the fire herself as her hand rested on her belly. “It has always been in Adrian's heart to give his all to those in need around him. He is so like his mother was. I am grateful for that, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn't feel over, but I haven't settled on a part two. Just wasn't sure where to end it.
> 
> I got the adorable idea of a fang lisp from Ao3 author armouredescort. Check out their stuff!


End file.
